Apotheosis/Dione/Backstory
Let us distance ourselves from the conversation you're having with the old man and actually wind the clock back a little bit all the way to your infancy, all the way to the time when you were still completely unaware of what you would become in the future. Since it has been such a long time, I may not remember all the details, so you'll have to bear with me and remind me of what really happened every now and then. Okay? Okay.
It was the year 331 of the divine era. A baby girl was born inside a small nomadic tent under the cold desert moon and the clear starlit sky. Her mother named her daughter after "Dione" - a constellation known to their tribe - that the planet Venus passed over that night. It was the day you were born. Otherwise, it was a day just like any other.
You have little to no memories of your infancy or your early childhood. You can't even remember your mother's face. Half of what you think you know about the first period of your life is something that you've pieced together based on the evidence you've seen, one third is something you know for certain to be true, and the rest is just guesses and hunches. Your mother was part of a nomadic desert tribe that lived its life traveling the sea of sand between Egypt and Carthage without belonging to either nation. This is a fact. Who your father is, you do not know. Your mother was probably a prostitute, as is common for beautiful tribal women who lack the skills and the education to survive in the wider society. Your birth could've even been a result of a rape. At very least, her pregnancy was probably a mistake, or as some would say, a happy accident. Either way, this is a guess on your part. Your life changed permanently for both better and worse when you were just shy of six years old, when your tribe got raided by bandits and outlaw mercenaries on one fateful day. As fortunate as you were to avoid the cruelest fate possible, your mother was not so lucky. She captured in the melee, leaving you orphaned. This is something you've pieced together later on in your life. Whatever happened to your mother remains a mystery to this day, but you suspect she got sold into slavery, living the rest of her life in servitude.
It was because of this event that you were forced to leave the tribe, as evident by where you are now. The tribe probably couldn't take care of you financially, and they didn't want to see you become like your mother, so they chose to leave you behind by introducing you to the society they didn't even consider themselves to be a part of. Your last contact with them - and one of the earliest memories in your life - was with the tribe leaving you on the stairs of an orphanage in the city of Memphis. It was the first place they found, and it was by no means an extravagant establishment. Located in the poor, rural areas, the old and ragged building was made primarily from sandstone, and was very typical for the area. It only stood out in size, and was the largest in the neighborhood. It had two floors along with a large cellar and a large yard. Finally, its insides are mostly made from wood, having had its last major renovation over two decades ago. It was an old building by the time you arrived there, and it was only a matter of time until it would be closed down for good because of financial troubles.
When you were there, it was also very overpopulated, with way more children than there were rooms. On a good day, they could feed most of you. On the worst days though, all the children saw was a single piece of bread. Things like juice, meat and dairy were permanently off the menu. There hadn't been a shortage of water for over a decade though, for Nile is a source that provides for all. Anyway, all these facts considered, you were remarkably lucky to be accepted. You never had the misfortune of living through such hard times because, well… You didn't get to stay there for long, but that's a story for later. Your short stay didn't stop some children from getting more food for other kids. Older kids, especially boys, but some girls too, would steal from the markets to get more to eat, thinking they were doing a great service to all the children. You, too, got your share of these spoils on one of the first days in the orphanage. It was sort of like a welcome gift from the older children to you, like an invitation of sorts. Maybe they hoped you would become like them one day and not really give much regard to law and the misfortune of others. Who knows?
On your first couple of days there, you learned a lot about what kind of place it really was, or so you thought. You hadn't seen everything yet.
It happens on just another seemingly normal day. It's already way past the bedtime, but the bright light coming from the full moon is hindering your chances of falling asleep and your bed is way too hard and very uncomfortable. It's quite hot, so you ditched your blanket a long time ago. Only pieces of cloth covering your body are your panties and your old, greyed out, ragged dress full of holes. It covers all the important spots though, so you don't really care that it's broken. Besides, it's the most comfortable piece of clothing you've ever owned. The linen it's made of is high-quality.
You're feeling a strong urge to pee, but you have a little problem that is making it hard for you to leave; you don't know which way to go. Besides, the dark corridors of this old building are a little scary. You check on your three roommates, only to find them already fast asleep, unable to provide you any assistance. You leave by yourself and take a look at the silent corridor. As you expected, it looks quite menacing to your eyes, appearing haunting. You're pretty sure you should go left though, so that's the way you choose.
You walk past the headmaster's office, which is close to the entrance. It's also a sign that you're going towards the right direction, since you remember the bathrooms being close to the entrance as well. Your advance is interrupted by the chatter coming from inside the office. The door's open, and the candles are lit. Something is going on inside. Your curiosity takes the better of you, and you take a peek inside. From the very start, you can see exactly what's going on, but you don't really understand what you see.
First, there is the headmaster. All the kids call him Paco. Whenever that is his real name, though, is something you don't actually know. He's a local man, born upstream far to the south. Tall, young and fit, he has no bad physical qualities. His long and narrow face is accompanied by mustache and a goatee. Some kids like to secretly poke fun of him behind his back, but never in front of him, since nobody has a good time when he's angry. With him, he has a boy named Theo. He's from a dark-skinned boy from Punt, a small but filthy rich kingdom to the south of Egypt. How he ended up in Egypt, you do not know. He's a boy three years older than you, and you really look up to him, despite only knowing him for few days. He is also your first crush in the age you don't even know what a crush is. He was actually one of the boys who offered other children stolen food in secret just recently. Theo, along with his friends, is a real troublemaker, so seeing him together with the headmaster is not a strange thing to witness. What is strange though, is seeing Theo doing what he is doing. His mouth is glued to Paco's crotch, and it's sucking on something that's attached to Paco. As you continue to watch, you find yourself asking a simple question. It isn't as much about "why is he sucking" as it is about "what is he sucking". You have no idea what that thing between Paco's legs is, but you don't have anything like that between your legs. It's bigger, a lot bigger, and you can tell from afar, even though you can't see its tip, that it's stiff and pointy.
You can't hear well what Paco is saying, but he is talking about food, and you can hear the word "steal" being thrown around as well. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this is some form of discipline towards Theo for stealing, but that makes it all just so much more confusing. He must've gotten caught, even though he always brags about never getting caught. Paco seems to be happy as well. He's grinning from ear to ear.
You're really curious about what's going on. You want to see better, which is causing your body to lean forward. As you do, you hear the door's hinges screech softly. You pull your body back to hide from the line of sight, and you hope that you weren't caught. You may not know what's going on, but you know that sneaking around and eavesdropping is not allowed.
You hear Paco raise his voice and ask: "Who is there?" You dare not to speak out. "Identify yourself." You can already hear the heavy steps approaching, so you don't have time to plan your escape. You stand still and watch this middle-aged man in his now closed bathrobe stare down on you. His tall frame towers over your slender, four feet tall body, and his intimidating presence alone is making you to back down. He doesn't look least bit surprised to see you. You want to apologize and run away, but you're too scared to say anything. "What are you doing here, Dione?"
He speaks with such a judgmental tone, and you're getting increasingly nervous. You feel like your best bet is to be honest. "I… I need to pee…"
"I will come with you", he says. "Wait just a minute, okay?" After that, and walks up to Theo, who is still on the floor on his knees. He has not moved an inch. Paco leans down to whisper something to Theo's ear. As he does, they both glance at you, and you can see Theo nodding. After that brief encounter, Paco gets back to you, and takes you by your hand, walking you towards the bathroom.
Having someone walk by your side feels so much safer. You get your relief, you clean and wipe your privates up properly, and then you're basically done and ready to get back to sleep. You take a look at Paco, who is now smiling at you. He seemed a little angry earlier, so him calming down is very reassuring to you. "I'll take you back to your room now."
Well, you were planning on asking him to do that, since getting back to your room is even harder than finding a toilet; you have no idea which of the identical looking doors you should go through. Before that though, you have one last worry in your mind. You really, REALLY want to know about that "thing" he's got down there.